Darth Vale
THIS IS HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME
'Sith Infiltration into the Senate of the Galactic Alliance'
PLANET: Coruscant, Federal District of Galactic City
As the sounds of Jana's voice bounced off the walls of the small apartment, the young sorceress could feel the soul of her victim slowly being bled from her body, filling the sacred vessel, making its inner glow brighter and brighter. Each word that Jana spoke seemed to make the runic symbols etched into the bowls surface dance and shimmer, while a glowing red mist spilled over the edges spreading out and filling the floor of the small room. Tendrils of the mist seemed to form up and slither into the air, reaching out and grabbing the sobbing young woman's chest, causing her small weak mulling cries to transform into muted important, and thankfully silent screams of agony as her strength continued to be bled away.
"Please," the woman cried weakly between ragged breathes as another of the tendrils caressed her cheek before seeming to slip into her nostrils. "Please stop this," she begged for the millionth time. Jana just ignored her as she closed her eyes and focused on the last remaining verses of the incantation. The search for this Kayla Joregins had been painstaking and Jana wasn't about to give up all that effort because of some suffering cries for mercy.
Kayla wasn't a perfect physical match for Jana, but she was close enough that with a little makeover and slight push in the Force hardly anyone would notice the difference. More importantly, however, Kayla was a nobody that very people even noticed. By some miracle, she had managed to work her way up from the slums of Coruscant's undercity into the assistant pool for the Galactic Alliance Senate, but that was where her accomplishments had ended. She was now a young woman with very few friends, no family left on Coruscant, and she hadn't yet been chosen by any of the senators to act as an aid. From what Jana could tell from the official transcripts, after making it into the assistants' pool of the Senate building, Kayla hadn't managed to catch the eye of any of the senators to make her an official aid, most of her supervisors had written her off as having no real potential, and Kayla was now stuck in the pool likely to never be anything more than a temp bouncing from office to office. It was this mediocrity, however, that made her perfect for Jana's needs. No one knew her, no one cared about her, and no one would be paying attention if Jana switched places with the woman. This spell would insure no one at all suspected that anything had happened to Kayla.
After ripping Kayla's soul from her body and trapping it inside a specially prepared Kyber crystal, Jana would be able to fool anyone, even a Jedi, into thinking she was actually Kayla. Anyone looking at her would feel the presence of Kayla, and the spell would help smooth over any actual differences in appearance. Even Kayla's own mother, after a small moment of disorientation, would begin to see Jana as her daughter. It was an extremely powerful spell, but with some limitations. She needed to always be wearing the crystal in a place where people could see it for the spell to work, and each time a person that knew Kayla before Jana stole her identity saw the crystal, they would experience a moment of vertigo as the spell imposed its will on their memories. The spell would only work on the weaker-minded individuals from Kayla's life, as those with strong wills would fight the magics, but luckily Kayla was a nobody surrounded by nobodies. The spell couldn't affect the mind of those with a strong connection to the Force, but it would mask her Darkside presence, and allow Jana to use other tricks if needed to help those with stronger wills and a connection to the Force believe her false identity. No one would suspect she was Sith and no one would learn what she was really doing on Coruscant until it was too late to stop her. Unlike other concealment spells or tricks, this one remained intact as long as the victim's soul remained trapped within the crystal.
"Let go," Jana said as she finished the last of the incantations, standing, and making her way over the now whimpering Kayla. "Let go and the pain will go away. Keep fighting and the suffering will only get worse." Her words were soft and soothing, trying to lull the terrified Kayla into a false sense of security. Jana honestly didn't care if Kayla suffered or not, either way, her soal was only moments away from being ripped from her body and sealed away in the Kyber crystal. The long-term viability of the spell, however, would be better if Kayla surrendered to her fate before being trapped away for all eternity. If her soul was strong enough and fought hard enough it might cause, glitches, in the spell. Jana doubted that Kayla had the will to do anything once trapped, but it would still be easier. "Everything will be peaceful and better soon."
With one last gasp, Kayla finally surrendered to her fate and let go. The tendrils of Darkside energy pulled the last of the light out of Kayla's body and her corpse slumped forward, all the color draining from her skin before her body completely collapsed into dust. The smoke and tendrils slowly pulled back into the sacred bowl until all that remained with a glowing Kyber crystal. Jana reached out to the crystal, touching its warm surface reverently, before picking it up. As she lifted the crystal, the glow spread out into her hand before being absorbed completely into her. Jana could feel the screams of Kayla's soul deep within the crystal as she looked into the multi-faceted surface but just smiled to herself. The spell had worked. Kayla's soul was trapped in the crystal fueling the concealment spell that would hide her dark essence and make everyone believe that she was the unremarkable Kayla Joregins. Well unremarkable for now.
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The Next Day; Federal Senate Building
"Kayla! Kayla" called an unfamiliar male voice that cause Jana to turn around and try to find its source. She had just arrived at the Senate building this morning for her first official shift in the assistant pool in her new disguise as Kayla, and she was still getting her footing. She had memorized the official blueprints for the building, she knew the layout, the names of all her co-workers and supervisors, and knew what she was supposed to be doing, but all her study hadn't actually prepared her for the sheer size and grandeur of the building. It took all her training not to give in to the awe of the moment and walk around like one of the visitors taking a tour for the first time. "Wait up!"
Jana caught sight of the source of the voice calling her new name, it belonged to a young man jogging over to join her. She recognized him from the many files she had read in getting ready for her new identity as Nathan, a newly added member of the Senate assistance pool that had just joined a week previously. Nothing Jana had read or seen indicated Kayla and Nathan were friends, but she was ready to roll with anything and trusted the spell to smooth over anything that might seem off or wrong to him. "Hi Nathan," Jana said with the same chipper tone that Kayla seemed to always use in her work setting. "What's up?"
"I'm glad I caught you," he said as he stopped next to Jana taking a second to lean forward and catch his breath. Obviously, he wasn't used to physical exertion, and it took Jana a moment to stop herself from laughing at his weakness. When he looked up at her face, a moment of confusion washed across his face before he seemed to be awash with a moment of vertigo then the confusion cleared and he smiled widely at what he now assumed was Kayla. "Did you hear?" he asked between the long deep breaths he was taking to calm his heart and slow his breathing back to normal. "A few of the Senators are going to be coming to the pool to pick new assistants. This could be it!" he exclaimed, his voice abandoning the ragged rasp of exertion and taking on pure excitement. "We could finally get to work for one of the Senators. We could be on the rise!"
This was exactly what Jana had been hoping for, but she hadn't expected it to happen so soon. She had hoped to have at least a few weeks to make a new impression on the supervisors, maybe network with the existing Senate assistants that came down to the pool from time to time seeking out temporary help, all before she could weasel her way into a permanent position with one of the senators. This wasn't a short time in and out kind of mission, she was here for the long term and it would take time to build the trust and a network of individuals to achieve ultimate victory. However, she also needed to be adaptable. If this was the opportunity she was looking for, she needed to seize it now.
"That's amazing!" Jana exclaimed trying her best to mirror Nathan's excitement and maintain the mousy enthusiasm of her assumed persona. "Do we know who? When? There is so much to do..." she trailed off as she took on a more serious stance and facial expression. She wasn't ready, she hadn't even been in the assistant pool offices yet, and she hadn't even managed to even talk to a supervisor yet. She would need to act fast if she was going to make a quick first impression and get chosen. "How long do we have?"
"I don't know," Nathan replied as the pair fell into sync beside each other and resumed Kayla's earlier course towards the assistant pool offices. "Just that a few of the Senators are coming in person to select new assistants in the next hour. You know how things are, people getting promoted to new positions as the Alliance expands its influence, this is our chance, Kayla. Imagine us working with an actual senator."
Jana could feel Nathan's excitement at the prospect of joining the powerful elite as well as his concern that he wouldn't be chosen, but she didn't share either emotion. She knew she was powerful enough and talented enough to be chosen, and when she was that it was only the beginning of a long mission. She would be excited about achieving success at the end, not the little minor steps forward to getting to the goal line. "We better get a move on then," Jana said still faking the same excitement that Nathan had in her voice. "Don't want any of the others being chosen just because we are late."